Khao Mok Neua (Beef Biryani)

Biryani may not immediately come to mind when you think of Thai food but Khao Mok is an incredibly popular Southern Thai dish. It borrows a lot of flavours and it’s cooking style from Malaysia and Indian food and is popular in the south where the population is majority Muslim unlike central and northern areas of Thailand that have largely Buddhist populations. It does have a lot of similarities with Indian biryani’s but also has some classic Thai ingredients that makes it stand out as being quite different. Beef isn’t particularly common in Thailand and is considered by some to be of poorer quality compared to other meats but as this is a slower cooked dish and has been pre marinated, it becomes tender. Chicken is probably used more often for Khao Mok (Khao Mok Gai). 

For 3 big/ 4 small portions, use:

• 300g of beef (I used shin but feel free to use whatever cut you like), trimmed and cut into chunky cubes


• a  handful of coriander, finely chopped


• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped


• a thumb sized piece of ginger, finely chopped


• a big piece of fresh tumeric, finely chopped (morrisons sell it) or 1 teaspoon dried


• a big splash of fish sauce


• a big of salt

Mix all these ingredients up in a bowl. Leave them for a minimum of 1 hr, up to overnight if you have the time.

While marinating, make the dipping sauce. Use a small food processor, pestle and mortar or your chopping skills and mix together:

• 3 or 4 red or green chillies


• a handful of fresh mint leaves


• a handful of fresh coriander


• a small piece of galangal/ ginger or a mixture


• a big pinch of sugar


• a splash of vinegar (malt or white)

Set it aside for serving with the biryani at the end

Now to make the biryani. Use:

• 1.5 cups of white rice


• 2-2.5 cups of chicken stock


• about 20 Thai shallots or 1 red onion, finely sliced


• 1 chopped tomato


• a few cardamom pods


• a few bay leaves


• a few cinnamon sticks


• a big pinch of black pepper


• oil for frying

Heat oil in a pan, fry the onion/shallots until they have browned (about 5-10 mins). Add in the spices and fry for a minute or so. Add in the tomato, fry again for another minute. Now add the meat and all it’s paste. Fry well for about 5 minutes until it has some colour. Add in the dry rice next and fry this in the oils for a couple of minutes before adding 2 cups of stock (keep the other half cup on hand if it dries out too much). Give everything a good stir and pop on a lid. Let the whole thing cook on low for about half an hour, keeping an eye on the rice to make sure it hasn’t dried out too much. Add a bit more stock if it needs it.

Finally, turn off the heat and let the biryani rest and steam for it a bit. When you spoon it out don’t forget to get a few of the crispy bits from the bottom of the pan. Serve it with the minty dip, some cucumber slices and  a sprinkle of coriander over the whole thing.

Pad See Ew (Soy Sauce Noodles)

Finally, we’re having a break from pork with this super quick vegetarian noodle dish. It’s pretty standard street food fare up and down Thailand. Can become meaty, this is a tofu-ey version. This doesn’t require any complicated ingredients, everything can be easily found in a regular supermarket. Ready to eat in about 10 minutes!

For one person (multiply as needed for more portions)

• a small handful of dried rice stick noodles


• a fist sized chunk of broccoli, stem and floret, cut into small pieces


• a small handful of mange tout (or other crunchy veg)


• 1 egg


• half a pack of tofu (it freezes/thaws very well)


• 2 big cloves of garlic, finely sliced


• a small pinch sugar


• a splash of light soy sauce


• a splash of dark soy sauce


• a pinch of pepper


• 1-2 chillies, chopped and mixed in white wine vinegar, for sprinkling


• veg oil for frying

Start by chopping chillies and let them ‘pickle’ in the vinegar while you make the dish. You can make big batches of this and keep it covered in the fridge for your next Thai meal. 

Next, start soaking your dried rice noodles in warm water for about ten minutes- you don’t want them to feel soggy, just slightly softened.

Heat the oil in a wok, throw in the garlic and stir fry for a few seconds before adding the drained noodles, let them sit and get a bit crispy on the bottom before stir frying again. Add in the vegetables and fry for a minute before shoving these to one side of the wok, breaking in the egg and let it just sit and cook for 30 seconds, gently break up and let it sit again for another 30 seconds, break it up, sit for another 30 seconds, break it up and stir everything together. Throw in the tofu and stir/toss gently to mix everything through before adding the pepper, sugar and dark and light soy sauces, Toss through for a few more seconds before turning everything out onto a plate. Sprinkle over a bit more pepper and as much of the chillies in vinegar as you like.

Facebook Page ?

Just wanted to say thank you to all you recent followers, I’ve hit 50 followers today!  Where in the world is everyone from?

I also have a facebook page for my blog- http://www.facebook.com/iwishiwasinthailand

Would love to see you over there! Naomi x

Moo Pad Gratiem Prik Thai (Pork Fried with Garlic and Pepper)

Right, I promise no more pork for a while after this, but this one is a little different this time- This dish is a common one you’ll find in Thai restaurants over here and in Thailand but using chopped pork ribs is much more common in Thailand and, to be honest, much more satisfying as you have to get a bit messy and get hands on with your food.

You’ll need for two:

• about 6 meaty pork ribs, use a cleaver to cut them into inch long pieces (please use a good solid wooden chopping board- I did this on my plastic meat board and chopped it into two!)


• a whole bulb of garlic, finely chopped


• a very large pinch of ground pepper


• a small pinch of sugar


• a big splash of light soy sauce


• a big splash of oyster sauce


• lots of vegetable oil for frying

Heat a deep pan or wok with the vegetable oil. When it’s medium hot, add in the rib pieces. You want them to cook fairly slowly, that way they’ll get really crispy. If the oils too hot, they will cook too fast on the outside and not all the way through. They will probably need 10-15 minutes deep frying. When they’re brown and crispy, drain onto paper towels.

Empty out the wok and add a small splash of cooking oil. Heat the wok onto high, throw in all the garlic for just a few seconds before tossing the ribs back in with the two sauces and the sugar and pepper, stir fry for just another minute or so and turn out onto your serving plate. Sprinkle a bit more pepper over the ribs and serve with a salad- it’ll balance out the deep fried pork and you’ll think you’re being at least vaguely healthy!

Yam Moo Yang (Grilled Pork Salad)

I know I promised more pork and here’s the first of two. However, this must be one of the healthiest ways to eat pork, super lean, no oils and a load of veggies and spices. It took hardly any time at all to make and works really well as a lunch for next day (just don’t pour the dressing over until you eat it). A perfect example of using the Thai 4 flavours (salty, sweet, sour and spicy) to make salad come alive!

For two people use:

• a lean whole piece of boneless pork (tenderloin, leg etc.)


• half a white or red onion, cut into strips


• a stalk of celery, cut in thin slices


• about 15 cherry tomatoes, halved


• a big handful of coriander leaves and stems, ripped up


• a small handful of mint leaves, ripped up

and for the dressing use:

• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled


• 3 red chillies, roughly chopped


• a big pinch of sugar


• juice of 1 lime


• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla)

If you need to, trim the pork of any extra fat before placing in onto a foil lined tray and under a low-medium grill, keep a close eye on it and keep turning it so it doesn’t burn, depending on the size/shape of your pork, it may be about 15 mins. Once cooked, check to make sure its cooked all the way through before cutting into fairly thick slices. Leave to one side.

Now make the dressing, pound up the garlic and chillies in a mortar before adding in the sugar, lime and fish sauce. Put all the salad ingredients into a bowl, throw in the pork and briefly coat everything in the dressing before eating. 

That’s it, very easy!

Pla Rad Prik (Fish in Chilli Sauce)

There’s been a lot of pork on the menu recently and head’s up- there’s more to come. I can’t help it- pork is the commonest meat in Thailand and it tastes sooo good! For today though, still not exactly healthy- a deep fried fish in a sweet and sour chilli sauce. Very satisfying and pretty quick to make too.

For two people use:

• two whole white fish- the sea bass looked good today so I got those


• 5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped


• ½ onion, finely chopped


• 5 or 6 red chillies, finely chopped


• 2 tablespoons sugar


• a big splash fish sauce (nam pla)


• a big splash of tamarind liquid (use juice 1 lime if you can’t get it)


• Some coriander leaves, roughly ripped up


• lots of vegetable/ sunflower oil for deep frying

Take a minute to make sure your fish have been scaled first otherwise this dish will be godawful. Then use a sharp knife to cut deep slits along both sides of the fish. Heat a wok half full of oil on a low- medium heat and when it’s reasonably hot, slide the fish in. They want to cook fairly slowly, don’t touch them AT ALL. Once the fish are in, start the sauce..,

Heat a small amount of oil in another pan, gently fry the onion, chilli and garlic until soft for about 3 minutes before adding in the sauces and sugar and a splash of water too. Let in reduce down while the fish continue to cook. 

After the fish has been cooking for 10 minutes on one side, use ladles/ spatulas, plates, whatever, to very gently turn in over. Continue to cook for another 5 minutes- it should end up being very crispy.

When the fish is done, gently lift it out onto a plate, pour over the chilli sauce which should be syrupy and scatter the coriander leaves around.

Moo Satay & Ajaad (Pork Satay and Cucumber Pickle)

(or the satay that isn’t really). If you’re wondering why there are no sticks that’s because I forgot to buy them before I made the recipe. It was too late to go out and buy them so just imagine the meat came on sticks ok?

This dish takes a little bit of prep time but is fairly straightforward to do, both the sauce and the pickle can be made ahead of time.


Ingredients for enough for two:

For the marinade:

• 200g of lean pork, cut into reasonably thin slivers


• 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder


• 1 stalk of lemongrass, trimmed and very finely chopped


• a big splash of light soy sauce


• 1/3 can coconut milk


• a big pinch of sugar

For the peanut sauce:

• a heaped tablespoon of Massaman curry paste (some supermarkets sell this)


• the remaining 2/3 can coconut milk


• a big splash of fish sauce (nam pla) an easy supermarket find these days


• a large handful of salted peanuts


• a small splash of tamarind extract (if you can’t find this add the juice of half a lime)


• a heaped tablespoon of sugar


• 4 cloves of chopped garlic


• a small piece of galangal (use ginger if you can’t get it), very finely chopped


• 3 small red chillies, very finely chopped


• 4/5 kaffir lime leaves, shredded and chopped very fine (some supermarkets sell them fresh, dried are pretty rubbish- use lime zest instead


• 1 stalk of lemon grass, trimmed and very finely chopped

For the cucumber pickle:

• 3-4 inch piece of cucumber, peeled, seeds scooped out then finely chopped


• a small piece of red onion/ shallot very finely chopped


• 1 or 2 small red chillies, very finely chopped


• a big glug of white wine vinegar


• a big pinch of sugar

Start with the pork marinade- place the pork in a bowl and add all the ingredients listed. Stir well then leave somewhere cool for at least 1 hour, longer if you want.


While the pork marinades, make the pickle. Mix all the pickle ingredients in a small bowl and leave it to sit while you made the peanut sauce.


Start off by toasting the peanuts over a medium heat in a frying pan. Keep watching them and moving them about so they don’t burn, toast until they just begin to change colour. Take them off the heat, pouring in to a pestle and mortar and crush them. Take them out and put them to one side for now. Put all the herby ingredients (garlic, galangal, chilli, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves in the mortar and bash these up into a more paste- like substance. Into the empty frying pan, over a medium heat; add this paste and the leftover coconut milk and the remainder of the sauce ingredients. Let this heat through for 5 minutes, before adding the crushed peanuts. It’ll take a while, maybe 15 minutes, but very slowly reduce this down until you have a thick and gloopy sauce. this can now be kept to one side until serving time.


Back to the pork- thread the meat onto skewers and cook under a medium high grill for about 10 minutes, turning as needed. Let them get a little bit of char to them. If, like me you forget the sticks, just lay the pieces of meat onto a foil covered grill try in one layer and cook in the same way.


Finally, grab your three components and get dipping!

Sai Oua (Thai Sausage)

I’m back! I’ve been away for a week or so, having escaped from my little Yorkshire town for a bit- It’s been a busy week of weddings, conferences, visits to the capital and travelling up and down the country so time to enjoy some great Thai food again. Sai Oua (which actually means stuffed intestines- or basically sausages to you and me) are pretty much the same as our regular sausage, they usually come in the style of a Cumberland sausage, i.e. in a big coil but yellow from turmeric and full of Thai flavours. When buying at the Thai food stall you can ask for whatever length of grilled sausage you desire, or can even buy the whole coil. The picture below isn’t the prettiest but it is damn tasty and I wholly recommend you give the recipe a try.

This makes enough for 2 people:

• 6 pork sausages of your choice (please use decent ones though)


• 25g of red Thai curry paste (roughly a heaped tablespoon)


• two stalks of lemongrass, trimmed and very finely chopped


• a few stalks of coriander, stem is best, very finely chopped


• a small knob of galangal very finely chopped (some supermarkets have it)


• a few kaffir lime leaves, very finely chopped (some supermarkets sell fresh)


• a big teaspoon of turmeric powder


• a pinch of sugar


• a small splash of Thai fish sauce (nam pla) all supermarkets sell it

Into a bowl, squeeze out the sausage meat from the skins, then add all the other ingredients. Mix gently but thoroughly by hand until everything is well blended, and your fingers are probably bright yellow. Wet your hands and form the meat into sausage shapes again. I should say by the way, this recipe presumes you don’t have a sausage maker. If you do, by all means make a long coil in the traditional way. But otherwise, place your hand rolled sausages under a grill and cook on a medium heat until a little char forms and the meat is cooked right through, about 10-15 minutes.

Serve with steamed rice and ideally a cucumber pickle (recipe to follow soon) or your favourite chilli dipping sauce.